


the fall-guy

by Lee_Mix



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-08
Packaged: 2018-08-07 09:26:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7709734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lee_Mix/pseuds/Lee_Mix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The masks across both their faces have broken in half had begun to slide down their face with the blood from their forehead. Emerald and sapphire had never looked so beautiful dying in the firelight of the sun.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the fall-guy

Bones became branches, splintered and chipped as Ladybug became rooted to the battleground. 

Weakly, Marinette moved her head. Rubble was everywhere, and she coughed up some of the dust that had trapped itself in her lungs (was she drowning in broad daylight?). Her focus became locked on the other broken body laid slightly askew from her. 

Her aching fingers gingerly brushed against his. “ _Adrien_ …”

A few twitched in response, the pinky hooked around hers. One of his eyes looked back at her; the other had lost it’s sheen, failing to focus on anything. It would never see the light of day again. 

“Mari…” Adrien coughed; spluttered blood against his black uniform. The antithesis of her colour scheme. It made her stomach wretch. “You look so _broken_ _up_ over me, heh. Not like you…”

“A-A pun? _Now?_ Are you trying to get me to laugh in the face of death?”

“Nah. Death’s not visiting you today.” 

She wanted to shout at him not to make promises she and he _both_ know he cannot keep, but she’d always had a stubborn flaw in wanting to always believe in him even in the face of that impossible fate that won’t keep that beautiful smile away from heartbreak.

_“One does have to admire the tenacity of a lover’s tandem on the battlefield.”_

She can’t be bothered to look up at the shadow that crosses their bodies, but she does so anyway. 

 _Ladybug_ will not give Papillion the satisfaction of her giving up, but the only voice that remained was _Marinette’s_. She found it strange how similarly they sounded in that moment. “You don’t _admire_ it.” She spat, blood trickling from her mouth. “Whatever _sick_ game you’re playing with the city, love isn’t in the equation for you. You can’t _admire_ what you don’t _respect.”_

“True. Remarkably inspirational words, for a child playing hero.” He moved across the rooftops like he was ink in water; the shadows his greatest asset. 

“Or an old man playing _dress up._ ”

“Such talk, _Adrien_.” Ladybug watched Chat Noir tense, his skin going pale. She hoped he wasn’t losing blood. “What on _Earth_ would your father think?”

“How should I know?” Venom filled his voice. “Mine died a long time ago.”

It is a wonder how large the world can feel when the silence drags on. All she heard was someone’s breathing stagger and stumble before composure was regained. 

“…You know why I did this, Adrien.”

“To bring back a _ghost._ You ignored the family you had left and completely  _defiled_ what Mom would’ve wanted.”

“And you would have me give _up_ trying to save her?” Papillion raised a hand to his forehead, kneaded the skin on his temple. “I knew you would not understand. But fear not. All your suffering will be over shortly.”

 _“Chat.”_ The whisper was more a hiss than anything. “ _We–we need to–”_

His broken arm rose up to cover her lip, brushing wth the tenderness that shouldn’t exist in a moment like that. 

_“…My Lady., I… I wouldn’t have done this with anyone else. It was my honour to be your shield.”  
_

The tears bit at her eyes. A gloved hand reached down to touch her ear.

He had no restraint as he ripped it out of her lobe.

“ _Finally.”_

He held the stone up to the sky like a sacrifice; a tiny, glittering thing, holding nothing inside of it but cracked memories. Marinette had no idea what Adrien was thinking; did he not believe the man before him shared his blood, or that he preferred the chaotic spectrum of the emotion behind  _that_ mask, rather than the icy dismissal of Gabriel Agreste?

… Well. It didn’t matter anymore.

Papillion bent down, crouching slowly when something in him froze.

“…Your transformation did not dissolve?”

“… _H-Hah._ ” Where they lay was becoming a bed of blood; running through the gulley of Paris like rainwater. Adrien’s broken laughter carried through the air like a hushed thunder.  _“Cat’s out of the bag, old man.”_

 _“It–It’s fake.”_ Marinette carried the flame when Adrien’s voice began to distort into a coughing fit. “Th-They both are. D-Did you not see us _dying_ here? I-If we were truly infused, we’d have had more protection. G-God, and you called _us_ kids?”

“Wh–Why?!” He spluttered, throwing the tiny stone aside. “Adrien–why? Why would you commit _suicide_ like this–?!”

_“…You think we would hand the stones on a silver platter to you after the directions the development the Akuma took? Injecting people you found at random under the most stress and using their heightened emotions to force permanent mutations? Y–You’re a monster, You fucking monster, you–”_

“The stones are safe. In a place that you will _never_ reach. We…we were the distraction. They’re with the people we trust most in the world. And they–they _will_ stop you.”

Adrien gripped Marinette’s hand tighter. Marinette smiled back at him as she forced her eyes to stay open for as long as possible. 

( _Papillion took to the skies in a storm of disbelief._

_He no longer mattered. He, like all men vying for that sort of power, will become their own undoing.)_

The masks across both their faces have broken in half had begun to slide down their face with the blood from their forehead. Emerald and sapphire had never looked so beautiful dying in the firelight of the sun.


End file.
